1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid medium applicator for applying a liquid medium such as a wax, a detergent solution or the like to a floor surface. Further, the present invention relates to a tray for moistening the liquid medium applicator. In addition, the present invention relates to a cloth usable with the liquid medium applicator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A thread type mop and a wax applicator have been hitherto known as a liquid medium applicator for coating a floor surface with a film of wax.
When using a thread type mop, a mop portion is immersed in a wax solution and the floor surface is uniformly wiped with the mop portion impregnated with a wax. However, it has been found that the thread type mop has problems in that it is impregnated with an excessive quantity of wax solution and some spots on the floor surface fail to be coated with a film of wax. It is particularly important that the floor surface is uniformly coated with a thin film of wax. For this reason, a wax applying operation has required a highly trained skill.
A wax applicator which includes a base operatively secured to the foremost end of a rod-shaped grip handle, a cloth tightly expanded over the base to wipe the floor surface therewith, a wax storage tank firmly mounted on the intermediate part of the grip handle and a knob for opening or closing a wax flow passage extending from the wax storage tank down to outflow holes on the base has been developed. With this wax applicator constructed in the above-described manner, since a desired flow rate of wax can be set by adjusting an extent of opening of the wax flow passage, an adequate quantity of wax flows out through the outflow holes and thereby the floor surface is wiped with the cloth impregnated with the wax.
However, it has been found that the proposed wax applicator has the following problems. Generally, more than 75% of liquid wax is water. When water is vaporized after the floor surface is coated with a film of wax, the effective component, i.e., wax, is solidified and adhesively secured to the floor surface. This also happens to tools and instrument associated with the wax applicator. After a wax applying operation is completed, the wax should completely be removed from the tools and the instruments by a washing operation or the like. Alternatively, the tools and the instruments should be placed in a bag molded of polyvinyl chloride to prevent drying and solidification of the liquid wax. Especially, with respect to the wax applicator, when the liquid wax remains around the outflow holes on the base, it is locally solidified, causing some of the outflow holes to be clogged with the wax. As a result, the wax applicator does not function properly. (b) To assure that a wax applying operation is uniformly performed with a thin film of wax, a highly trained skill is required when the thread type mop is used. With respect to the wax applicator, no consideration has been hitherto given to a material employed for the wax applicator, a structure of the wax applicator, a method of squeezing the cloth via the grip handle held with an operator's hand and uniform impregnation of the cloth with the liquid wax. For this reason, it has been reported that the thread type mop operable by "a highly skilled operator" is superior to the wax applicator with respect to "a quality of finishing" after completion of the wax applying operation. The present tendency of the wax applicator which has been used for a wax applying operation may be summarized by the phrases "coating with a thick film of wax" and "irregular coating".